Taking a step further in the planet's hunt for clean power, Norway is to unveil on Tuesday the world's first prototype of an osmotic power plant on the banks of the Oslo fjord.

The project is small-scale but could prove the great potential of osmotic energy.

"It is a form of renewable energy which, unlike solar or wind power, produces a predictable and stable amount of energy regardless of the weather," explained Stein Erik Skilhagen, in charge of the project at state-owned Statkraft, which specialises in renewable energies.

Osmotic energy is based on the principle that nature is constantly seeking balance, and plays on the different concentration levels of liquids.

When freshwater and seawater meet on either side of a membrane -- a thin layer that retains salt but lets water pass -- freshwater is drawn towards the seawater side. The flow puts pressure on the seawater side, and that pressure can be used to drive a turbine, producing electricity.

Household sewerage is the only outflow that can't be used as grey water (because of the pathogens in your poo, I think). If you had a dry composting system and you did your Numba Twos separately from your Numba Ones, you might be able to use your urine colleciton. I don't know enough about the chemical make-up of urine. I think another problem could be the variance in people's wee - a household that was well-hydrated would probably excrete wee with a low salinity, and there would be a much smaller osmotic potential than if you used the piss of the guy that washed his whisky down with salty chips. ]]>
Piss Power?http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=7277&Focus=205082#Comment_205082
http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=7277&Focus=205082#Comment_205082Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:43:05 -0600bjacques